1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus or an image processing method, and more particularly, to an image processing apparatus adapted for preparing a so-called illustration image or the like including a coloring process on an original image.
2. Description of Related Art
According to one of methods heretofore adopted for preparing an illustration image, a process of area division for dividing a natural image into areas by using the technique of, for example, edge detection is performed, and, then, each of the divided areas is fully colored with an average color of that area.
However, heretofore, no technique has been established for perfectly dividing a natural image into areas. In the above conventional illustration image preparing method, some image area that must be divided is sometimes left undivided. In such a case, it has been impossible to prepare an adequate illustration image. For example, in a case where the edge detecting process has been performed on a natural image sample shown in FIG. 1, if the area dividing process fails at a vague edge part, area 1 and area 2 which must be divided from each other would be processed as one and the same area as shown in FIG. 2. If the area resulting from the failure of the area division is fully colored with an average color of the area, the illustration image would become unacceptable as shown in FIG. 3. In such a case, an illustration image intended by the user is hardly obtainable.
Further, in a case where such an unacceptable part is to be repaired after completion of a coloring process on all the image areas, all the steps of the coloring process must be repeated by modifying the original image in part. The repair, however, necessitates much time and labor. Besides, the repeated coloring process might still fail to give the intended image. In such a case, the time and labor unduly impose an great burden on the user.